christopher price

Roster reset, 3.0: Forecasting the final 53

If it’s Monday, it must be time for another edition of roster reset. This is the third shot at predicting who will make the Patriots’ 53-man roster. (Check out the first two here and here.) With three preseason games in the books, there’s a pretty good idea as to who will make up the first 45 or so spots on the roster. However, there are about a dozen players who could make a legitimate argument for one of the final eight spots on the roster, which will make this week’s preseason finale against the Giants Thursday night at Gillette Stadium all the more interesting.

Some good positional versatility here with the interior linemen, but Maneri sneaks on to the roster as the fourth tackle. Meanwhile, the health of Connolly (who injured his ankle in Saturday’s loss to the Lions) and Wendell (who hasn’t practiced since July 31) could shake things up a bit. The possibility remains that Solder could see some time at right guard if Connolly is going to be out for an extended stretch. (The rookie has seen some time there in practice.) Fifth-round pick Marcus Cannon will likely open the season on the reserve/NFI list.

No change from last week. However, it’ll big week for Yeatman, fifth-round pick Lee Smith and Garrett Mills as they all make a push for that final spot. (All three have practice squad eligibility.) Still believe that Alge Crumpler will figure into the mix here sometime before the end of the season.

Big cut here is Sammy Morris, who should find work immediately after being released. (If a roster spot opens with an unexpected release at another position, Morris will make it.) As has been the case all throughout camp, we expect Kevin Faulk to start the season on PUP. And while Ridley has impressed, the jury is still out on Vereen, who has yet to see the field this summer because of a nagging hamstring injury.

Tate is hanging on by the slimmest of margins — frankly, the speedster is probably the biggest personnel question at this point in the preseason. The franchise has invested a lot in him as a kick returner and wide receiver and while he was dynamite at the start of the 2010 season, he’s struggled to be consistent in both departments. Edelman has had a solid summer, both as a returner and receiver. Price and Slater have looked good, but need a good finish to the preseason to lock down a spot.

No surprises here — Gostkowski has looked solid this summer coming off last year’s quad injury, while Mesko has been the best and most consistent special teams performer to this point of the preseason.

I don’t think any other position has seen so much change on my weekly 53-man predictions. To this point, Carter has shown more than Mark Anderson, and both essentially fill the same role. Moore is showing up on film more and more (no pun intended). Even though the preseason finale is usually the exclusive domain of the backups, it would be nice for Cunningham and Ellis to get a few snaps to gauge their game readiness.

Another area where things have been shaken up a bit, as Pryor now makes the team ahead of veteran Gerard Warren (who would almost certainly find some way to make this team if a roster spot did open up). As we spelled out here, Wright is good enough where the Patriots would be willing to use a roster spot on him, depending on the severity of the injury.

The first five guys are locked in — it’s the last one that remains a question mark, where the Patriots will likely go with a special teamer, whether it’s White or newcomers Niko Koutouvides or Ricky Brown. If they feel that Spikes and/or Fletcher aren’t ready to go (both have struggled with injury over the last couple of weeks), they could keep more than one of those guys on the bubble and drop an extra wide receiver.

Butler has rebounded after a poor start. He’s not Ty Law, but he’s shown enough to stick around, particularly as a special teamer. But as we stated in the wake of the loss to Detroit, this position is still in flux, and things could change dramatically between now and Week One. The clock is ticking on Dowling, who has really struggled with injury and needs to see the field sooner rather than later so the team knows what they have before the start of the regular season.

Dickerson and Price discuss the RB position and who will get a majority of the workload. They also talk about missing Revis and the CB position. The boys also get into more Deflategate discussions with callers.

Dickerson and Price are live from Fenway today and kick off NFL Sunday discussing some of the events at Pats training camp this week. Then they get into the court battle between Brady and Goodell and where we go from here? The guys give their predictions on just how many games Brady will in fact sit out. They get into the Chris Mortenson situation after he backed out of the D&C interview. Finally, Trags (Mike Petraglia) of WEEI.com joins the boys live from training camp.

How long will this rebuild take? How much money will it take to keep Bae Crowder? Are Draft Picks even worth anything? With the Danny Ainge not landing any big names in the draft, and unable to lure any big names in free agency, Sam and Ben discussed if the Celtics are doomed moving forward.

Joe and Dave are joined by Pedro who was at the game and had his number 45 retired by the Red Sox in a very touching pregame ceremony. Pedro talks about going into the Hall of Fame, his time in Boston and love for the game of baseball.

The awesomely knowledgeable Fluto Shinzawa calls DJ, Naoko and Pete to talk about his thoughts on the future of the B's. He discusses his column from earlier this week on Cam Neely wanting to give Claude the ax earlier in the season but not getting the ok. Fluto shares his thoughts on Chiarelli's firing, the future for Claude and where the Bruins should go from here. He also gives his opinion on potential moves the team can make, who would fit in here, his thoughts on the NHL playoffs so far and more.

In the final hour of the "midseason finale" as DJ likes to call it, the crew discuss more about the future of the Bruins franchise, the possible power struggle in the front office and who should be the head coach going forward. They talk to intelligent and talented Fluto Shinzawa about all of these thing and more in an excellent interview, and finally, DJ says THANK YOU!

Intern extraordinaire Lucy joins Jerry once again to discuss the most vexing questions in the history of mankind: can men and women coexist? What are the differences between how men and women think? And how mean can women really be?

If you play Fantasy Football then you know there are several “Elephants in the Room!” And nobody is talking about them. Are they afraid? We’re not! The Dallas Running game, Leveon Bell, Demarco Murray & Ryan Matthews in the Philly backfield, the Saints offense and so much more. Right here, WEEI’s own Jim Hackett and Pete Davidson cover all of the main “Elephants in the Room” to help you get the edge for your upcoming drafts. Enjoy!